2014 to see decline in Kenya recruitment

By Capital FM, NAIROBI, Kenya, May 14 – The Kenyan jobs market is expected to experience slightly lower recruitments in the next 12 months, according to a new report by Ernst & Young (EY).

The report indicates that there will be high priority openings in the government for jobs around technology adoption resulting from innovation.

Forty six percent of respondents in Kenya said that they would hire fewer new employees this year while 37 percent said that they would retain the same number of openings.

Only four percent said they will recruit much higher in 2014.

The report also indicates that there is a higher demand for managers in Eastern Africa while demand for Executives is expected to drop.

Releasing the report in Nairobi on Thursday, Ernst and Young Advisory Leader for East Africa Celestine Munda said the poaching practice would rise as human resource managers are unwilling to engage in long term talent development.

“Long term success will come from problem solving that shift from ‘how can I win the best share of a scarce pool of skills’ to ‘how can I grow my existing pool to meet future needs?” Munda advised.

She also said that the education system in Kenya is not producing the right kind of skills needed in the market as more than 50 percent of graduates were not ready for the work place.

“The Kenyan Government needs to invest in outcome based education that will help students execute on the job market,” she explained.

She said the most affected category is the oil and gas sector.

According to the report, Kenyan organisations place more emphasis on acquisitions and entering new markets and less on building organisational capacity and optimising resources.

The report also indicates that in Eastern Africa, 29 percent of respondents will recruit from the Diaspora while 17 percent are keen on recruiting from African countries.

Across Africa, 58 percent of respondents indicated that labour market regulations had increased over recent years and 64 percent expect more to come in the near future. However, 74 percent of respondents stated that current and anticipated regulations are not a deterrent to hiring.

“These results can partly be explained by the fact that most respondents indicated they were compliant employers, also to some degree debunks the notion that labour market regulation stifles employer hiring practices.” said EY People and Organisational Leader David Storey.

The appetite for reliance on expatriates appears to be decreasing especially in the professional and technical staffing categories. However, Storey explains that while there is a clear intention expressed by respondents across Sub-Saharan Africa, to hire less expatriates in general and particularly at Executive level, there does not seem to be any plan to support this intention.

“The cornerstone to realising Africa’s human capital must be improving management capability to identify and build talent, such capability building requires a long term approach with adequate investment supported by an efficient HR function,” he said.

224 organisations participated on the report with East Africa representing 19.64 percent.